Report: Addressing the Challenge of Women’s Health in Africa

Report of the Commission on Women’s Health in the African Region

The report of the World Health Organization’s expert Commission argues that women’s health is the foundation for social and economic development in the African Region. Women’s health is recognized as a human rights issue and should be promoted and defended as such. Women in Africa represent slightly over 50% of the continent’s human resources and so women’s health has huge implications for the Region’s development. Focusing in particular on the unacceptably high level of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, the report calls for a fundamental rethinking of approaches to improving women’s health informed by an understanding of the sociocultural determinants that are so important in shaping it.